1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an end effector for a loader tractor, and more particularly to a rotatable grapple having three gripping fingers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In nurseries, trees and shrubs bound up with an earthen ball wrapped in cloth about its roots are moved about after being dug up, are loaded onto trucks for shipping and are unloaded from trucks when received from other nurseries. The trees and shrubs are found lying in many different orientations on the ground and in the trucks. It is common practice to manually lift the tree or shrub into an upright position, typically using two, three, or more workers depending on the size of the tree, and then insert the forks of a fork lift beneath the tree ball for lifting and loading operations. The tree must be manually held in position while being lifted and loaded to avoid tipping over. Once in position in the truck, the tree must be positioned in a stable orientation and for least damage to the tree, thereby requiring additional workers on the truck.
This procedure is time consuming and requires many workers, thus resulting in high costs. On windy days, loading of trees can become impossible, particularly for larger trees.